A twelve-minute video has been created about the June 2010 PASI event in Panama City. The short documentary gives an overview of the process of collaborating among international and interdisciplinary scholars around the themes of Climate Change and Hazards and points out some of the key themes and lessons learned from the experience. Watch it online here.

The final report, in the form of a document that outlines research directions, has been released and is

posted online for public viewing. Authored by the interdisciplinary team of 50 participants of the PASI program, it compiles the Intellectual contributions to how spatial analytical approaches can aid in integration of interdisciplinary approaches to improve understanding of the dynamics of climate change and expected hazard impacts. It is organized into disciplinary and interdisciplinary sections that identify appropriate sets of questions and recommendations for how the knowledge necessary to address those questions can best be produced within an interdisciplinary setting.

Exploration of tensions among an advanced scholarly program on hazards, the uncertainty of climate change science, communication theories around various cultural audiences, and differences among disciplinary perspectives presented a unique opportunity to advance knowledge individually and collectively. Working through these tensions has been instructive for effectively integrating multi-disciplinary knowledge on the subject. The main contribution of this pieces is the articulation of further questions for advancing understanding and addressing educational and communication needs around complex scientific knowledge of climate change and disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.

A set of five manuscripts that document various interdisciplinary contributions to important themes relating to the intersection of Climate Change and Hazards have been released. During the June 2010 event, PASI Participants self organized into five different working groups to generate ideas about existing and potential future studies integrating institute focal themes. Working groups were composed of individuals from different parts of the Americas and from different disciplines. Each of these five groups prepared a draft research manuscript from these ideas and presented them publicly on the Technological University of Panama campus.

The draft research manuscripts identified existing and mapped our new areas of research in geography, urban planning, engineering, communication, and other disciplines. Among the critical topics that were explored, participants addressed building local resilience, visualization, adaptation planning, mapping local knowledge, informing policy and practice in the hemisphere, relationships between land use and hazards in the context of climate change, vulnerability, and mitigation. Many employed case studies to illustrate the concepts under discussion. Among the results, the group emphasized that “community participation is very important in hazards mitigation and adaptation to climate change” and elaborated methodologies and practices towards engaging stakeholder participation from the beginning of scientific endeavors in ways that are culturally relevant.The urgency of hazards preparation was seen as one way to overcome inaction that may be precipitated by the uncertainty involved in climate change science.They explored links on how mitigating the effects of climate change are closely related to ways of living and developing more sustainably anyway.

The white papers are posted online for public viewing. An integrated research agenda based on these manuscripts and on the discussions that ensued over the two-week institute will be published and made available to the public in the fall.

After two weeks of hard work, the Climate Change and Hazards institute participants successfully finished the event's activities in Panama. The teams were committed to collaborating across disciplinary, cultural, and linguistic boundaries. Overcoming a ubiquitous wave of the flu, their focus and patience paid off in the end in the form of five creative white papers and approximately six pages of research agenda questions. The outcomes and documents will be polished and edited in the coming weeks for broader distribution. In addition to those attending with support from the NSF, broader participation was achieved through the knowledge environment's structure. Preliminary metrics indicate 10,000+ page views coming from 446 unique visitors from 20 countries during the institute in June. Many thanks to all for their essential participation.

Patricia Solissolis@aag.orginstituteeventwrapsupassuccess2https://sites.google.com/feeds/content/aag.org/c2heke/82662341607653560002010-06-18T13:08:59.615Z2010-06-18T13:14:59.342Z2010-06-18T13:14:59.324ZParticipants form working groups

The PASI participants have self selected their working group teams to focus on generating the institute outcomes. Each of these working groups are comprised of a mixture of expertise (e.g. geography, GIS, communication experts) and perspectives (North America, Caribbean, Central America, South America). They will be identifying the emerging cutting edge themes and drafting research-based white papers around innovative and transformative subjects. From these draft white papers, the outline for the institute's research agenda will be derived.

Approximately fifteen instructors and participants met in person at an informal venue during the recent AAG Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, as a preview of the PASI activities ongoing towards the June event in Panama. Besides getting to know each other in person, which was the main goal of the gathering, we also previewed the agenda and addressed some logistical questions. As part of the publicity around the program, PI Patricia Solis also gave a presentation in another session outlining the goals and expected outcomes of the PASI. The powerpoint is available for viewing in the attachments to this page - check it out!

Participants were introduced to how to use this project wiki and other communication technologies to generate the collaborative research outcomes of the program. This session was held using GoTo Meetings free webinar service and a recording of one of the sessions is posted online for those unable to attend the times and dates.

The use of social technologies and advanced communication systems forms part of the unique aspect of this institute, with goals to maximize collaboration and input from instructors and participants alike, to create peer mentoring networks, and to encourage broader participation in these research efforts.

With less than two weeks until the PASI institute event is held in Panama City, instructors and organizers finalize the program agenda. The impressive set of multimedia lectures, group discussions, interactive panels, laboratory training, collaborative work sessions, social activities, and local site visits are all listed in the onsite program. The pages comprising this schedule of events contain the individual session abstracts which will become a repository of real-time comments by participants to generate an interaction space that will develop the framework for this knowledge environment.

Reservations have been made at the Country Inn and Suites Amador in Panama City for selected participants as the lodging and lecture venue for the Climate Change & Hazards PASI. Located near the canal entrance, the

hotel provides a view of the Bridge of the Americas, a well-known symbol for linkages across the hemisphere. Additional lectures, group discussions, and laboratory sessions will be held at the UTP on their Tumba Muerto campus, serving as the local host institution for the institute.

The US National Science Foundation has awarded a grant to the Association of American Geographers and partners under its Pan American Advanced Studies Institute Program (NSF-PASI) in the Office of International Science and Engineering. The funds will be used to support the participation of faculty and students in a program focused on theIntegration of Research on Climate Change and Hazards in the Americas. The main event will be a two-week institute to be held in Panama City, Panama in the summer of 2010.Co-organized by theAssociation of American Geographers (AAG), the PanAmerican Institute for Geography and History (PAIGH) of the Organization of American States, the US Geological Survey (USGS), the National Communication Association (NCA), and the United Nations Environment Programme Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNEP), the PASI will take place in collaboration with theUniversidad Tecnológica de Panamá and will be led by an expert interdisciplinary team of 12 lecturers from the US, Panama, Chile, Brazil, and Mexico.

Patricia Solissolis@aag.orgenteryourmessagetotheteamhere10https://sites.google.com/feeds/content/aag.org/c2heke/67105091972409672922009-10-20T04:46:42.786Z2010-03-16T18:46:36.582Z2010-03-16T18:46:36.580ZDeadline for participation set for January 16 ...

Graduate students, post doctoral students, or early career scientists within 6 years of receiving the PhD, and who are US citizens or permanent residents or are currently enrolled in a US university or academic institution in any field may apply as US Participants. Underrepresented groups and students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and tribal colleges are encouraged to apply.

Graduate students, post doctoral students, or early career scientists within 10 years of receiving the PhD who are citizens of and residents in any country in Latin America may apply as Regional Participants.

Applicants will be selected by a committee of experts from the organizing institutions for their potential contribution to the institute and potential to catalyze significant international collaboration beyond the institute.When submissions are of approximately equal merit, preference will be given to minority and female scholars. Up to 25 participants from each category, U.S. and Regional, of equal number and broad geographic distribution will be invited to participate.Those selected to participate must agree in writing to comply with NSF guidelines, to engage in the institute event presentations, learning activities, and contribute to the elaboration of the knowledge environment as a condition of acceptance.

Most of the selected participants have confirmed participation, and the listserv and website are under final stages of construction. The online venue will be launched as more than just a webpage. It will of course provide up-to-date information on the PASI, with specific details on current and upcoming activities, lecture topics, institute agenda, and links to related initiatives. During the two-week long training, participants will use this website as a source for notes, presentations, and instructional materials, as well as links to external data and methods of analysis. The site uses web-based collaborative social technologies to create an onlinevirtual learning and research facilitation environment that serves multiple functions and is developed via open co-authoring software tools. Functions include a semi-private Wiki systemthat allows mass co-authoring of the site and content contribution, storage, and exchange functionalities. The final objective is to create a knowledge-environment that can be transformed into a long-term sustained vehicle for the preservation and dissemination of the institute’s outcomes. In addition to research community resources, the C2HEKE site will provide mentoring information and an opportunity for graduate students and early career researchers in the field to connect with each other and with expert mentors beyond the group of lecturers.

The C2HEKE adds to the impact of the institute itself, structuring time and activities to its development in an integrated schedule with the PASI event. For example, participants will be tasked with posting research questions, contributing to a common bibliography, and engaging with pre-event discussions to be used as a self-organizing framework for identification of workgroups that will emerge from the institute. As such we envision that it will play a significant role in preparing and optimizing participants’ attendance. With reading assignments posted prior to the event, and lecture notes available before each presentation participants will have a much richer and productive experience during the two weeks on-site. In our experience, participants who are structurally engaged in such work ahead of workshops have a significant head start in forming working relationships and remain engaged well after the event concludes. During the actual institute, the C2HEKE will record summaries of discussions and will maintain an archive of research questions that the group does not have time to sufficiently address during the sessions. It will help to establish a common terminology, important for interdisciplinary work, and to support multilingual treatments of topics (e.g., autotranslators). After the event, the site will spotlight publications, seminars, and collaborative research arising from the PASI.